Not quite a classic Prince album, but Kiss is a minimalist masterpiece
Whereas 1984’s Purple Rain had seen Prince merge the on-screen and on-record perfectly, remaining a classic to this day, Parade can’t quite claim to be as essential. Again a soundtrack to one of the Purple One’s excursions into cinema, it supports the movie Under the Cherry Moon – a flop which cleaned up at 1987’s Golden Raspberry Awards. The album, though, is significantly better than the messy flick, which featured Kristin Scott Thomas in one of her most forgettable roles.
Peaking at four in the UK albums chart, Parade is Prince at the peak of his 80s pomp, with The Revolution layering on healthy amounts of funky synths, electric licks and honking horns. This was the last album Prince recorded with said backing group – the first to officially feature them was Purple Rain – but if there was any unrest in the ranks it doesn’t come through here. Many a listener will be familiar with the set’s lead single, Kiss – but the track almost missed the cut entirely, having originally been passed by Prince to The Revolution offshoot outfit Mazarati. Brown Mark and company reworked what was an acoustic demo into a minimalist funk masterpiece; and Prince, on hearing the results, couldn’t resist taking it back for himself. The rest is, so the saying goes, history: top 10s across the globe (and a rash of number ones), a Grammy in the bag and inclusion on every greatest-singles-ever list published since.
Lees de rest van deze review op BBC CD recensies (Engels)
Bron: BBC Music